Board Games

#1. Pandemic Legacy

Patrick. I’m sorry. We haven’t started Legacy yet. Jen and I don’t want to dive in as a two person game because everything we hear says it’s best with four players. So… we wait until our bizarre schedule with J.Atlas and the schedule of our normal gaming friends who also have an infant align miraculously. Or… we just play the two of us. I genuinely don’t know the best choice. What do you guys think?

#2. 7 Wonders Duel

As we parade abouts the waiting place on Legacy, we have purchased a few new games. 7 Wonders Duel is a masterpiece of a two person game. It’s also short. It takes about 30 minutes to play through a game, which makes it perfect for us to squeeze in a game in the precious 60 minutes that we have between J.Atlas’ bedtime and when we collapse in exhaustion. The game has wonderful replay qualities. Each game is excitingly close and enveloping. I can’t recommend this game enough as a two person game.

#3. Between two Cities

A rather unique 2-7 person board game which can be finished in about 30 minutes time. I’m on the fence with this game. It’s play mechanisms are clever, but I don’t feel like there’s a ton of reply opportunity. There’s a maximum number of points attainable so it feels like there’s a roof to success. You can read this mediocre review as: “I’m not that good at the game and have a hard time admitting it.”

#4. Splendor

This one arrived this week. It’s rated exceptionally highly as a family game and it’s strangely addictive. When I was reading about the method of play it sounded pretty boring, but after trying a game, and a second game, and a third game…. I realized it’s not that it’s boring it’s just simple. And as a simple game, it’s easy to keep playing and playing and playing. I think there’s depth to its strategy, but having only played a handful of games I haven’t yet uncovered its exciting nuances

Other games I’m interested in, but haven’t purchased:

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar
This game has a system of gears which move resources. First reaction: Gimmick? Alas, from reviews I read it’s not at all gimmicky. The problem with the game is its ~90min play time which doesn’t really work with Jen and my schedule right now

T.I.M.E. Stories (another one-time-through game, like Legacy)
I LOVE THE IDEA OF LEGACY STYLE GAMES – except, this one is rated best with three people. And right now scheduling guests for any real period of time becomes too challenging.

Blood Rage
I was searching for games with unique boards. Most of the games we’ve been playing lately are card hoarding games (Dominion, Duel, Splendor). So I am eager for something different. Blood rage has miniatures and looks far from anything else we’ve tried. But… it’s another 60-90min game. That makes it tough.

Anyone have other recommendations? I’ve had my eye on Race for the Galaxy for awhile now too. I know that’s a winner courtesy of Tom & Mykal. Any others?

5 thoughts on “Board Games

  • 1/13/2017 at 11:13 am
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    Mike. I have TIME stories. Its not so much a legacy game in that the game doesn’t change each tiem you play it, its YOU who changes (in so much as your knowledge) in each playthrough of each story. I think they have four stories out now. The initial one, Marcy something or other….a fantasy style one and I think an Egyptian style one.

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    • 1/13/2017 at 12:52 pm
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      Kurt, do you think TIME stories would work well as a two person game?

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  • 1/15/2017 at 8:53 am
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    Tom’s parents got a two player game called patchwork for Christmas. We played it quite a few times, it’s like Tetris quilt pieces you put together to make a quilt. Fun little game and easy and fast to play.

    We also got Tokaido, which is a essentially a game where you are playing a tourist traveling through Japan, which seems like a terrible premise for a game but it is fun. It can be played with two players but we only played with four over Christmas, so I’m not sure about the two player game.

    We got lanterns too and I only played it twice but it was fun.

    I’m glad you like splendor, we have had in it heavy rotation for a year. You should definitely get race to the galaxy, it’s the only game we keep playing year after year. For some reason race to the galaxy just really appeals to both of us. Have you played morels? That’s another two player we like a lot.

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    • 1/26/2017 at 3:04 pm
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      Okay! We got Race for the Galaxy. Definitely daunting at first glance, but we’re beginning to get the hang of it. I can appreciate the potential depth of the game.

      How does Morels compare on a depth/simplicity scale to Splendor and Race for the Galaxy?

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  • 1/16/2017 at 1:33 am
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    RE: Pandemic Legacy

    Because it’s cooperative, you could play 4 characters with 2 players (or heck, you could play it solo if you were really desperate for teammates).

    After we finished the season, we went online to see how other players fared, and there was definitely pre- and post-season discussion about the number of characters to play. Generally-speaking, people said that it’s a better game experience with 4 characters (more options, more interesting interactions going on), and that it’s probably easier with just 2 characters (the consensus is that regular Pandemic is also easier with 2 characters, so this isn’t new, apparently).

    Also, if you and Jen start up a 4 character game, you could always bring in other people for a game or two. I don’t know if there are any rules about keeping the number of characters the same over the season. Seems like you could do 2 one game, 4 the next, perhaps. (This never came up for us, since we had regular double-date nights every time!)

    We finished the year with 11 wins, 7 losses, with the only month we didn’t win being the first: January. We have some other friends who just started playing last week, and they won January in their first attempt! Already ahead of us!

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